


How does one say "fuck you" in Mandarin?

by Sinfulpapillon



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, The adrienette is in the background, the focus is definitely Gabriel and Sabine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 06:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13476084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinfulpapillon/pseuds/Sinfulpapillon
Summary: Gabriel Agreste found Sabine Cheng to be a very intriguing woman indeed. Each time he’d come in to the bakery, she’d get his order ready, politely ring him up, promptly smile at him...and insult him in Mandarin with the sweetest, most innocent look on her face.





	How does one say "fuck you" in Mandarin?

Gabriel Agreste rarely took a day off. Oftentimes, he was forced to by Nathalie. After all, he much preferred to drown himself in work to avoid thinking too much. It was easier that way.

He had taken to visiting a bakery in town on his days off. In particular, the bakery run by a certain Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s parents. They lived there as well, so it often served as a good way to keep tabs on his leading suspect when it came to Ladybug’s identity. That and, well, she had shown quite a lot of interest in his son and he’d rather make sure she didn’t take it too far. In all honesty, he was hoping she would so he could issue a restraining order just in case she  _ was _ Ladybug.

Still, she’d shown a lot of promise in design as well and could serve as a good addition to his team one day if all went well.

However, after a while, he’d started to visit for more than just that, finding himself more interested in the woman he usually saw behind the counter. Her name was Sabine and she always wore a sickeningly sweet smile and excessively optimistic demeanor. It would be annoying as all hell if he didn’t know better than those around them.

Namely, that she had an excessively filthy mouth.

Each time he’d come in, she’d get his order ready, politely ring him up, promptly smile at him...and insult him in Mandarin with the sweetest, most innocent look on her face. 

No one else would react, not even her family. Could neither of them speak her first language? That seemed odd but he figured there was a reason. For now, he’d assume the reason was to get out her true feelings without worry of what those around her would think of her. She always seemed so encouraging and sweet, it wouldn’t be too surprising if that was an outlet for any frustrations she might have.

He played along, pretending he had no idea what she was saying. He’d ask and she’d always come up with some nice thing she’d supposedly said, continuing to smile as if nothing was amidst. He’d say something polite in return and go about the rest of his day. Each time she found some new way to insult him, ranging from comments about his mental state to about 13 generations of his ancestry. She’d even said something about his conscience being eaten by a dog at some point. She could certainly be creative. The fact that she always had something new to say each time he entered was honestly impressive.

It amused him to no end.

It continued for years. Each month he’d enter, buy something, and hear a new jab at him. It was one of the things he looked forward to most whenever he was made to take a day off. A lot happened in that timeframe, from Marinette graduating and taking on an internship at his company, to the girl and his son beginning to date, to him eventually giving up his activities as Hawkmoth. After all, he could only take so much failure and he’d started taking too much of a liking to his enemy and how happy she made his son. He had never been good at giving Adrien the emotional support he needed, so he was glad someone could. 

Eventually, there came the day that Adrien proposed to the girl. It seemed like they were all going to be family soon. Gabriel had made a point to only go over to the bakery when Adrien wouldn’t be with him, since his son knew Mandarin as well. He wouldn’t want Adrien to give things away and possibly ruin the game. He enjoyed it too much. If it wasn’t for one little detail, he’d let it go on for longer. 

“I see you have the raspberry macarons today.” Gabriel stated, looking over the bake case.   
  
“Yes, we do! Those are your favorite, right, M. Agreste? I’ll go ahead and get you some.” Sabine grabbed out six before glancing at him to see if that was enough. With a curt nod, she packed them up and waited for whatever he wanted next.   
  
“I’ll also take some of the croissants. Adrien has grown a fondness to them.”

“Is that so? Perhaps we should make sure to include some at the wedding.”

“Perhaps more than some, he has a high metabolism, after all. He’d probably end up eating them all.”

That earned a bit of a giggle out of Sabine, the woman grabbing out a few for him and packing them accordingly. “We should have him come in for a cake tasting. I know Marinette’s favorites, but not his. Would you have any idea?”

“No. He doesn’t really eat a lot of cake that I know of. I haven’t the slightest idea.”

At that, he heard a mumbled bit of Mandarin as she arranged the remaining baked goods in a more presentable manner. He’d only heard bits and pieces of it, but he knew it was a comment on his parenting. He took it in stride, however, having heard multiple insults of the sort from her. His parenting was very, very different compared to theirs so he could only expect that she’d judge his harshly.

Whether or not he was a good father didn’t matter to him anymore. Adrien was about to no longer live with him anyway. He wanted to live with Marinette after the marriage and Gabriel was far from opposed to that. Things would be easier on them both that way.

“You know, our children are very happy with how well we seem to get on.” Gabriel said, pointing at some petit four cakes.

“Yes, Marinette seems very excited about the entire ordeal. She’s very grateful for the internship, by the way.” Sabine grabbed out a few of the petit fours, humming softly in agreement.

“Speaking of which, I feel you should know I require all of my best designers to learn Mandarin. Marinette will start classes next month. So, you may want to watch what you say when either of them are around, considering Adrien was taught the language ages ago as well.”

He watched the blood drain from Sabine’s face, the woman stilling immediately as she stared up at him, the petit fours forgotten for a moment.

“It’s one of the most useful languages for business and she will need to know if she plans to go as far as I think she could.” He continued, a bit of a smirk lining his features upon seeing her expression. “A good portion of my business agreements might have never happened if I wasn’t fluent myself.”

“Wait, you…. But I-”

“Yes. If I’m being honest, I found it amusing. You are very creative with your words, my dear.”

"So, you knew...the entire time?” She responded, looking mortified. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sor-”

Gabriel held up a hand, dismissing the apology. “You misread me. I’m not saying to stop entirely, just when they’re around.”

Sabine looked confused, as if she was wondering if she was merely having some weird dream. “I don’t follow.”

“Your insults are one of the things I look forward to every month. I’m surprised you haven’t run out of them, actually. I’d rather you continue for as long as you can because this has been one of the most amusing things in my life.”

“You...want me to continue?”

“Yes, I really do. I think that will be all for me today.”

She packaged up the petit fours she’d neglected for the moment, then putting all of it together in a bag for him. She rung him up and his handed her his card to complete the transaction. She was, sadly, silent through its entirety.

“Do you have anything for me today, Madame?”

She was quiet for a moment, thinking to herself. Perhaps she had to re-evaluate which insult she was going to use? He  _ had  _ thrown her for a loop, after all. After a bit, she nodded resolutely.

“ 你不是人”  _ You are not human _ . The sickeningly sweet smile was on her face again as she handed him his bag.

He chuckled, nodding in return. “Sounds about right, Madame. See you again in a month.” With a wave, he turned to leave, a bit more pep in his step than when he’d entered. 

Family gatherings were going to be  _ wild _ and he _couldn’t wait_.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I really hope I got the Chinese right here omg. Anyway, this idea has been in my head for ages now and I'm glad to finally write it out. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I have!


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